A bitch had a busy weekend. My ass attended the St. Louis HRC Gala Saturday. Hats off to the organizers for securing the fantabulous Jennifer Holliday, who graced us with her amazing voice and sincere charm.

Oh, and the yummy chocolate desert was a serious plus. Seriously.

Suffice it to say a bitch stumbled into bed and slept like the dead.

A bitch spent yesterday working on my book. It seems to be developing into a work about values and bitchitude. But don’t quote my ass on that, because Lawd only knows what it will end up being about.

A bitch’s mind is always twisting and changing.

This bitch has been trying to narrow down what to write about today. Since he’s been on my mind, my ass is going to write about my father.

My father died in 1998. He had a heart attacked and died in Chicago. It was sudden and, despite the fact that all the men on his side of the family died of some sort of heart related drama before the age of 65, unexpected. He was only 58 and was so…alive.

And then he wasn’t.

It feels like yesterday. A bitch thinks of him daily. This weekend my ass thought of him more because it would have been his birthday. He would have had cake and grumbled about getting gas from too much ice cream. We would have laughed.

Anyhoo...

My father was in the United States Airforce. He was a mechanic and he carried that hobby throughout his life. He left the Airforce, went to college on the G. I. Bill and proceeded to build our crazy assed family.

When a bitch heard about the possible torture of prisoners at Gitmo and in Iraq my stomach literally turned. This is my country and what is done in its name is done in my name.

And this bitch doesn’t operate like that.

When a bitch read today that soldiers are being charged with more abuse it again made me feel ill. Scooter’s pronouncement that 'we do not torture' sat on my computer screen like a stinking turd on ice…right below the breaking news announcement that American soldiers have been arrested.

But when a bitch looked at my calendar a few minutes ago and saw that Friday is Veteran’s Day…well…my ass just wanted to cry.

My father served this country and would have died for it. His youthful civil right’s protests were in defense of what America should be. He raise his chil’ren to expect and fight for what America can be.

My Grandfather served this nation during WWII. He traveled to Mississippi from California in 1942 to see his new child…my mother. He risked his life doing so, because a black man in uniform was asking for trouble back then. A bitch will always be amazed that my Grandfather was so proud to fight for a nation that would not grant him equal rights or respect.

Somehow this news being delivered today is even more foul. It’s as if the stench of this behavior…this torture and abuse…threatens to cling to the memory of our veterans.

What is done in America’s name is done in our name.

What is done in uniform is done in our veteran’s names as well.

Is this how we honor their sacrifice? Is this pathetic inhumane bullshit what we have resulted to doing in the name of freedom?

And there it is again…that question burning into my eyes.

Do we torture?

As my father might say, you’re already half way to fucked when you find yourself asking questions like that…

6 comments:

I saw Dubya's comments on torture too. Immediately my mind turned toward the SOA (seeing that the protest and rally is in two weeks)...

Torture is all our militaries know and love. No matter where they come from. Looking at Ft. Benning...the trail of abuse and trained abuse. From murders such as D'abuisson to Noriega. From the slaughtered nuns and college students in Peru (1994). Torture is a great weapon in the struggle for economic control.

Anyway, my heart hurts. I don't understand. I don't understand why Bush is pushing the FTAA (i mean, I 'understand' but I can't comprehend the greed and disregard for humanity that it must require to rape people/land/countries). How can this be happening. How can I go to work in the morning, live my life and not help to stop our currently opressive world environment.

Anyway, like I said, I'm growing weary. I don't want to study war no more!

I hope the people of the world will further recognize the oppression and rise up against it.

In the mean time, ABB, thanks for writing and keeping your community laughing. We all need it.

My father, my grandfathers, every uncle I have, my father-in-law, my step-grandfather, my husband's grandfathers ALL served in the military. One of my uncles JUST retired.

When I read or hear about torture and lord knows what else, my hearts hurts. How did young men and women from all over our country end up thinking that it's ok to TORTURE another human being? That picture and the ones of the men I mentioned do not connect at any point with me.

. . . maybe I'm cynical about it all . . . but it seems that torture and all sorts of horrific things have always gone on, that there is something violent and vicious and power mad that lives inside the human mind. The thing that seems the most unusual in what is occurring is that *now* we have the internet and blogs and cellphones and cellphone cameras and we Talk About It . . . so instead of hidden atrocities, we have atrocities in the glaring light of global attention. It sucks to hear about so much awfulness and to witness the bullshit of denial but maybe we're moving into a time where people act less on the insanity of cruelty that lives in their minds simply because they don't want it to be seen . . .

It's soldiers that commit these very acts that taint the reputations of those who are proudly serving or have proudly served our country. My family has a long line of men who served in the military, including my older brother.

as a disabled vet who's served over-seas, i can tell you of abuses that occur at even the lowest levels, and within it's own ranks. i have seen the after-math of a "cleaning party", when a young sailor was held down and rubbed raw with steel wool and green pads by his ship-mates until he bled. why? because he failed his rack inspection, and therefore the rest of the men in his berthing space consequently failed. this self-righteous bullshit claim, "we don't torture", is beyond reprehension. those who are perceived as weak are routinely tortured, and by their own brethren. if we do it to our own troops, we'll certainly do it on foreign soil. tell me another lie, prez.